The Three Strangers On Broad Street
by Loyal Subject
Summary: As madness slowly begins to consume Alice once more, she cannot help but to wonder who the three strangers she met on Broad Street were or if they were simply figments of her imagination. One-shot. American McGee's Alice/Tsubasa Chronicle Crossover.


_So, there's a contest the Risembool Rangers are hosting on dA where you have to write a crossover story with at least one of Vic's characters and whatever else you want. For those of you who don't know, the Risembool Rangers are voice actor Vic Mignogna's fans. Yeah...so anyway, I wanted to participate for some reason. I chose Fai from Tsubasa Chronicles as the 'Vic character' simply because I wanted to do a story that some how addressed him being a vampire. I know hardly anything about the series so most of my descriptions of him and his friends is probably off in some way or form. Then, I wanted to do the vampire story thing in Victorian England and the only thing that fit the contest limits that I could think of was American McGee's Alice. So yeah, it's a pretty weird combination. I don't expect to win the contest because I ended up focusing more on Alice than on Fai. The end. Reviews are encouraged as well as constructive criticism.  
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The Three Strangers on Broad Street

The weather was fair, Alice supposed, as her boots caused a puddle of water to splash. Luckily the puddle was small enough to leave the rim of her dress unharmed (not that she cared either way). Still, she knew very well it wasn't the most proper thing to do when there was plenty of space to walk around the puddle.

Alice was currently on Broad Street. While the trips to Oxford brought back unpleasant memories from the past, Alice could not help but to feel comforted by the familiar setting she had once enjoyed with her family. Back when her parents were still alive.

But there was no use in dwelling on that at the moment. She would have plenty of time to obsess over the mysterious circumstances of her parents' deaths in a few minutes. Just for a few minutes she would like to enjoy thinking about the more _pleasant _things life had to offer her.

"But Oxford is incredibly _boring_," Alice could not help but to think. Lately, she could not help but to think of Wonderland again (unbeknownst to her psychiatrist of course) and all of England seemed boring. There were no enemies to defeat or eccentric tea parties to attend. It was just plain England with ordinary people with ordinary lives. "I suppose it's nice and peaceful," Alice continued in hopes of defending her world. This was true: she did rather enjoy summer strolls or relaxing afternoons in the sun. But one had to find different means of entertainment through the winter and most of fall and spring, and Alice was not very good at this.

Before Alice could dwell on any of these useless topics any longer, Blackwell's bookshop was in sight. It was a new bookstore located on 50 Broad Street but Alice hoped to find useful information there. She had been through all of Lorina's books on subjects she felt would help her discover how the fire that killed her parents might have started; but she had found absolutely nothing. Therefore, the only logical thing to do would be to find another place with plenty of books. Not to mention, it was only a matter of time before Lorina started to catch on to what Alice was doing. She needed to be as discreet as possible.

Alice opened the door to Blackwell's before quietly slipping inside. It was a fairly small bookshop but it would simply have to do. Now, the question was where to start looking.

However, before Alice could determine where to look, she caught sight of three men at the far end of the store. There was something unusual about these men and Alice could not help but to feel drawn to their presence. They were all rather tall and thin; they were certainly dressed properly (all wearing different black frocks) but their features were rather odd. Realizing that she must be staring, Alice walked to a random section of the book shop. Taking a book off the shelf, she absentmindedly looked at some of the pages while glancing at the three men occasionally. Luckily, they did not seem to notice her.

The shortest of the three had both eyes and hair that were brown; his hair was rather shaggy though as though he were a young boy rather than a man. But what Alice noticed most about this man was something appeared to be hiding under his coat. Unfortunately, Alice could not get a good look at what it was but her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw two white ears. A white rabbit perhaps?

"Don't be ridiculous, Alice," she reprimanded as she quickly gazed down at the book again as one of the three went to get a look at her. After a few minutes, Alice hesitantly looked towards the group again.

The second man was clearly a foreigner. Perhaps he was from China or some other country in the Orient. His hair was jet black and much shorter than the first ones; however, his hair had odd spikes that Alice had never seen before. His gaze at the others was intense and Alice was afraid to look at him any longer.

But the third man drew her attention the most. His hair was blonde and the longest of the three. But it was his large, bright, blue eyes that drew Alice's attention. The man's eyes looked as though they possessed a certain charm, a certain magic that she had only seen in Wonderland. Looking from his eyes to the others, she thought for a moment that she could walk up to them and tell them about all the magic in Wonderland and rather than deeming her mad, they would believe her.

Suddenly, Alice realized that she had stared at the group for far too long as they were now staring back at her. Quickly, she gazed back at her book. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the main with the blue eyes smiling, the one with the black hair frowning, and the one with brown hair remaining placid. They were talking amongst one another and Alice knew they were talking about her. She had been to enough social gatherings with Lorina to know when she was being talked about. If only she were close enough to know what they were saying about her! Surely, they found her as odd even though they themselves were odd.

"Well, in any case, I'm more _normal _than they are," Alice thought. It was then that Alice noticed that two of them, the blonde and brunette, were beginning to walk towards her as though they wanted to speak with her. Alice's heart began to beat widely. Although she was not in favor of proper etiquette, she knew very well this was completely unacceptable. Luckily, the third man stopped them and the three were once again conversing quietly.

Alice waited a few minutes but the three did not approach her again. In a strange way, this upset her; a part of her had the curious notion of speaking with them and it was clear that they too wished to speak with her. But proper etiquette simply would not allow this to happen. Both parties were aware of this (though Alice was certain the three men were not accustomed to behaving in such a manner). Two out of the ordinary groups desperately sought to meet but society would not hear of it.

After the few minutes had passed, Alice put her book away and left. Her purpose at Blackwell's was long gone.

For the next few weeks, Alice found herself attended as many social gatherings as possible. For, if the three strangers wished to meet her then the only way to accomplish this was to attend a social gathering that they had been invited to as well for a proper introduction. However, she had not seen them at any social gatherings whatsoever. She casually inquired about these men to some of Lorina's friends who usually barely acknowledged her presence (she was mad after all). Unfortunately, no one seemed to know who these three men were.

Had she made up these three men? Had bits of Wonderland seeped into the real world? Was she slipping into madness even more? Alice could not help but to ponder these questions. She only hoped that no one would spread the rumor that Alice had imagined three strange men appearing in Oxford. The last thing she wanted was for Lorina to get a wind of it or, far worse, her psychiatrist. Alice was determined to keep this from happening.

The weather was on and off as winter was fast approaching. On the nicer days, Alice found herself spending more time in the parks. In an odd way, they reminded her of Wonderland minus some of the psychotic creatures that would occasionally attempt to kill her. At times she half expected to find a white rabbit running around the park with a pocket watch.

And then one day, while Alice was sitting comfortably by a tree, she _did _see a white rabbit run across the park. Except instead of a pocket watch, it had a gem on its forehead and it was a rather odd looking rabbit. In fact, if she had gotten a closer look, she might have argued that it was not a white rabbit at all. However, she did not have time to really look at it because the man with the blue eyes from a few weeks earlier was picking it up and concealing it from the outside world. Once the creature had gone into hiding within his coat, his gaze happened to fall upon her.

Like a deer being spotted by a hunter, Alice froze as his gaze fell on her. His eyes continued to speak of magic and things Alice could not even conjure into existence. And perhaps he saw the same thing within her; the knowledge of a hidden world unlike anything he would ever find in England or wherever he came from.

His two friends were soon joining him, causing him to break his gaze from her. He smiled towards his friends as though nothing was wrong only to stare back at her. His friends joined in. Yet, it was not the same as when Lorina's acquaintances stared at her; the stare of curiosity as they wondered if she really was a mad person. This was a stare of pure curiosity. Who was this girl and why did she seem different from the rest?

Realizing she had been staring for far too long, Alice broke eye contact. She continued to look away until the group finally left. Disappointed soon settled in but there was no way she could speak with them in such a public place, in broad daylight.

"Perhaps if I knew where they lived," Alice thought. But this was a lost cause as no one knew where they lived. "I wonder if I might follow them…" Alice suggested to herself. Alice looked around to see where they had gone. Unfortunately, they were out of sight. Alice reprimanded herself for being so stupid and proceeded to go home.

Alice was returning home from her appointment with the psychiatrist. The weather had returned to its usual cold and there was actually a light snow falling. It was dark and Alice wanted nothing more than to return home.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Alice thought she saw the white creature again. Quietly, Alice went in the direction she saw it go. However, she did not see it again so she continued to wander in the direction of the white creature.

Alice stopped for a moment before pressing forward as she heard a noise. It sounded familiar and yet she could not quite place what sound it was. Holding her breath, Alice slowly inched forward. She knew she had heard this sound before and it was torturing her that she could not place it. Whatever the sound was, it was incredibly eerie and out of place.

Alice felt her mind suddenly go numb as the three men came into view. She knew all three were there but she was only focusing on the very serious one and the one with blue eyes. The one with the blue eyes had the serious one's wrist pressed to his lips, blood dripping onto the ground. Suddenly, all the magic and curiosity had vanished. This, this was no magical wonderland. This was a nightmare, a hideous nightmare: as if her madness had taken over Wonderland once again. This simply could not be happening. This was not real.

Alice must have let out some sort of gasp because now the three were staring at her. The man with blue eyes' mouth was covered in blood. Alice instinctively reached for her knife. But she was not in her nightmarish Wonderland. She was in England. Here, she was powerless. What were these people?

Before either of them could offer her any explanation, Alice fled. She did not care where she ended up so long as it was away from those three.

Was she losing it? Were the three men just figments of her imagination that she had created? But then why were they here instead of in Wonderland? Did Wonderland need her? No, surely if she was needed, the White Rabbit would come and get her.

By this time, Alice had stopped running. She rubbed her arms as she tried to keep warm from the freezing cold. A display window attracted her attention. Slowly, she approached it. For a moment, all her fears of the strangers were gone as she gazed at puppets that reminded her of Hatter, the March Hare, Dormy, and the White Rabbit. No, she would get through this. Whatever it was, whatever those men were, she would get through this. Just thinking of Wonderland seemed to sooth her.

However, in the reflection of the display window were two familiar figures.

"Alice," her mother called.

"Mother?" Alice inquired as she spun around. Yet, there was no one there. "I must have been mistaken…" she thought.

"Alice," a voice called from behind. However, this voice sounded horribly familiar. A wave of warmth was quickly consuming her. Before she had time to realize what was happening, a loud crashing sound came from behind her. She turned only to see tentacles of some sort wrapping around her, attempting to drag her towards a ferocious fire. Alice had no time to react as she was pulled close to the fire. She grabbed onto the ledge of the display window, desperately trying to pull herself away from the fire. But it was all in vain. The scorching flames quickly consumed her.

_Alice, what have you done?

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_Questions I want to answer:_

_1. When does this take place in the TRC universe?_

_-I don't know because the manga is too confusing for me to understand without reading it. Let's just call this an AU. _

_2. Where is Sakura?_

_-Somewhere. Lol. Again, I don't know but I didn't want her in the story because there would be too many characters. And she would cause plot holes in this universe. _

_3. When does this take place in the American McGee Universe?_

_-Umm...I don't know that one either lol. I don't know what the sequel is going to be about other than Alice trying to solve what happened to her parents and her seeing a psychiatrist. I guess we'll say this takes place right before the sequel starts...since I took elements from the teaser trailers of the sequel XD. _

_4. Is there a thing between Fai and Alice?_

_-No. I ship Alice and Hatter all the way. Alice only focuses on Fai more than the others because she can sense the magic he possess (he gets his magic powers from his eyes or something). Also, this was a contest for a character Vic played so Fai had to stand out over Kurogane and Syaoran. Also, I didn't even want Syaoran in the story originally but I put him in there to avoid 'yaoi' controversy. And Kurogane is kind of intimidating so I don't think Alice would warm up to him very easily. _

_5. Is there a thing between Fai and Kurogane?_

_-I am starting to support Fai and Kurogane as a pairing. But, I sadly couldn't put that in here because the contest rules stated 'no yaoi'. So yeah, sorry. But if you want to think of them as a couple, be my guest. _


End file.
